In qualifying there was no great surprise that Ayrton Senna was on pole position but Michael Schumacher's second place was a surprise. Already there were allegations that the team had found a way around the new F1 electronic regulations which banned the most sophisticated electronics which helped the drivers. These included fully-automatic gearboxes, traction control and launch control - a system which allowed a driver to simply push the accelerator fully on when the start was given without needing to pay attention to wheel-spin or gear changes.

At the start Alesi got away quickly, beating Schumacher into second place. This lasted only a lap and a half before the German moved back up to second and chased after Senna. Alesi dropped back quickly while Hill was struggling with handling problems in fourth, Wendlinger fifth and Verstappen sixth. On lap 21 Senna and Schumacher pitted together. The Benetton stop was amazingly quick and Michael emerged ahead. Schumacher then began to pull away. As this was happening there was a major accident on lap 35 as Brundle, Verstappen and Irvine, fighting for seventh place, came up to lap Eric Bernard's Ligier. Brundle had a mechanical failure and his McLaren slowed. Bernard had to lift off and Irvine jinked to the left, straight into Verstappen, who had been trying to overtake. At 200mph the Benetton went on to the grass and veered right into and over Irvine and was launched into a series of somersaults, hitting Brundle as it went. A rear wheel of the car actually hit Martin's helmet but incredibly everyone emerged unscathed although after the race Irvine was given a one-race ban and a $10,000 fine. The Jordan team appealed (the FIA later increased the ban to three races).